Natalie Maines Sued in West Memphis Three Case

Natalie Maines is being sued by the stepfather of a murdered child. (Wikimedia Images)"]

Dixie Chick Natalie Maines is being sued for defamation by the stepfather of a child who was supposedly killed by three other teenagers, known by the media as the West Memphis Three.

In 1993, three eight-year-old boys were found murdered in the God-fearing community of West Memphis, Arkansas. Police quickly arrested three local teens who wore black and listened to heavy metal music and told the public the boys had been murdered in a Satanic ritual. The evidence they had for these arrests was a confession from one of the teens, Jessie Misskelley Jr., who was mentally handicapped and had been interrogated for 12 hours without a lawyer or   parental consent.

Jessie recanted his confession the same evening he had given it, but it was too late— Misskelley along with his friends Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols were all arrested and sentenced to life in prison, while the eldest boy, Echols, was sentenced to death.

National attention was drawn to the case after two HBO documentaries were aired Paradise Lost (1 and II) and celebrities including Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder, Metallica, Dixie Chicks and Jack Black became advocates for the release of the West Memphis Three.

Now, Dixie Chick Natalie Maines is being sued for pointing the finger at one of the murdered boys' stepfather, Terry Hobbs - allegations that had previously been made by the West Mepmphis Three's defense team. Hobbs filed suit seeking damages for loss of income, injury to his reputation and emotional distress.

Hobbs claims that Maines' statements were "so extreme in degree as to be beyond the pale of decency and to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society."